IIT JAM Cut-off 2026 and 2025: Paper-wise Qualifying Marks

The IIT JAM cut-off is the qualifying mark out of 100 that a candidate must reach in a test paper to be placed on the All India Merit List and become eligible to apply for admission. It is set separately for each of the seven papers and each category, and published with the results by the organising IIT.

This page gives the official qualifying marks for JAM 2026 and JAM 2025 from the statistical reports of IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi, shows the trend, and explains how to set a target for JAM 2027, which IIT Kharagpur will hold on 14 February 2027. Keep in mind that qualifying marks are a floor, not the score that wins a seat in a popular programme.

JAM 2026 Qualifying Marks (Official)

Source: JAM 2026 statistical report, IIT Bombay. All figures are out of 100 marks.

JAM 2025 Qualifying Marks (Official)

Source: JAM 2025 report, IIT Delhi. Cut-off marks in that report are truncated to two decimal places.

Trend and Competition

• Large swings are normal: Biotechnology's General cut-off rose by about 18 marks in a year, while Mathematics fell by more than 7. Year-to-year changes in paper difficulty are the usual reason for swings of this size.

• Category cut-offs follow a consistent ratio: In both years the OBC-NCL and EWS cut-off is about 90% of the General figure, and the SC, ST and PwD cut-off is about half of it.

• Qualifying is only the first step: In 2026, 15,814 of the 48,170 candidates who appeared qualified, while the admitting IITs offer about 3,000 seats.

What Affects the JAM Cut-off

• Paper difficulty: A tougher paper lowers raw scores across the board, and the cut-off with them.

• Merit list size: The number of candidates placed on the merit list depends on the seats available in each category, so seat changes shift the line.

• Negative marking: Wrong MCQ guesses pull totals down; the lowest raw marks in 2026 were negative in every paper.

• Number of candidates: More candidates in a paper raises competition for the same seats.

How to Set Your JAM 2027 Target

Cut-offs change every year with difficulty, seats and the number of candidates. Treat these figures as a benchmark only, and aim for a clear margin above them rather than a bare pass.

1. Know the gap between qualifying and admission: For popular M.Sc. programmes at older IITs, closing ranks usually need scores well above the qualifying mark. Check the opening and closing ranks published by the organising IIT for the programmes you want.

2. Set a mock benchmark: Pick a target total for your paper that sits comfortably above the last two General cut-offs, and track whether your full-length mock scores reach it consistently.

3. Protect accuracy: Since 50 marks in MSQ and NAT carry no penalty, raising accuracy there is the safest way to lift your total.